Her Life Instead
by NoCirclesNeeded
Summary: We all remember the night that Brig. Gen. Hughes lost his life, but this story tells it a bit differently. What happens when someone else dies in his place? Leaving Hughes to live his life, what will he do to make sure that her killer meets its end?


_Hello people of the internet! I started writing this about two months ago, and didn't really know whether to put it on FFN or not!_

_ Now, here is Part One of Her Life Instead, a dark story about Maes Hughes. ((Everything stays true to the anime right up until after he "kills" Ross's impersonator [really Envy])). Totally disreguard anyting that happens after, because it is all thrown askew!)) I hope you enjoy it!!!_

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HER LIFE INS****T****EAD** by NoCirclesNeeded  
A FAN-FICTION ABOUT BRIGADIER GENERAL MAES HUGHES

_**PART ONE:**_

**1  
****The dagger in his hand was dripping with blood after slashing through Ross impersonator's throat. He looked at its body lay still on the road beside the phone booth, and a relieved smile spread across his pale, horror stricken face. "I hope you'll forgive me," he said. "But I've got a wife and kid waiting for me back home."  
****  
**Lieutenant Colonel Hughes turned away from the creature and began to sheath his dagger, when he saw two figures running towards him, one tall and beautiful, the other short and barely keeping up with the tall one beside it. As they neared the lamplight, he saw who it was.

"Elicia! Gracia!" he cried. "What on earth are you doing out here, it's not safe!"

Gracia Hughes's face sparkled with tears as she stopped running near her husband, panting. "Maes... they.... they set.... they set our house on fire!" she sobbed. And the moment after that he saw soot covering the skin, clothes, and hair of his wife and daughter. "They walked into the room and threw fire on the walls and books and everything and I ran for the phone but they stopped me. I don't know why but they just let us escape."

Hughes grabbed his wife's shoulders and shook them as she began to faint. Why is this all happening? He thought desperately to himself. "Honey, who were they? You have to tell me!" He shook his wife again. "Gracia--"

But he was cut off as he heard a crackling noise and whirled around. His eyes widened when he saw a tall man, black hair and black eyes grinning at him, he took a step towards them and his face was thrown under a shadow. "Nice to see you here, Hughes," he said. "But I'm sorry I don't have time to talk, I have an important duty to take care of." The gun in his hand was loaded and ready and Hughes's reacted just as the man pulled the trigger. He hurled himself in front of his wife and waited for the bullet to sink into his skin... but nothing.

He stood up straight and looked at himself, perplexed beyond believe, and stared up as the man holding the gun smiled and then turned to walk away. "What have you done!? ANSWER ME!" Hughes cried. He looked around frantically trying to see where the bullet had hit when he heard the sound of a body hitting the stone ground. Looking down, he saw little Elicia face down in a pool of her own blood.

Gracia shrieked and knelt down, turning the little four-year-old over, revealing a open wound on her chest. Hughes's face was blank as he dropped to his knees and held his daughter in his arms. Tears were leaking at out of her eyes as her hands reached up towards his face. "Daddy..." she muttered, then she went limp and her arms flopped onto her chest.

The scream of anguish from Gracia and the tears that fell from her eyes was what awakened Hughes. He threw his head to where the man had been, but Mustang was gone. He screamed and stood up, racing down the street, shouting his name, streaming in rivers down his face. He made no words, just screamed into the night, causing several heads to pop out of windows and doors. He ran through what felt like half the streets in Central before his legs gave out and he fell on his face. "NO! NO, no, no, NO!" and with his final breath he cried, "ELYCIA!" and fell into darkness.

**2  
****He opened his eyes. Familiar faces of friends and workers peered down at him as sun streamed through the window. He smelled flowers on the nightstand bedside him and someone leaned down to kiss him on the forehead. He turned his head and Gracia, sitting beside him, smiled. But even though her face looked happy, the grin did not reach her empty eyes.**

Hughes stared into those eyes, stared and stared, as he opened his mouth to speak. "Where is Elicia?" no one answered, she just looked at him with her emotionless green eyes. "Where is my daughter?" A sickening feeling rose in his stomach as the silenced thickened and people fidgeted uncomfortably. "She can't be gone, Gracia."

Gracia looked down. Holding her trembling hands in her lap, her voice shook as she tried to be stoic. "She is, Maes. Our daughter is dead."

Hughes covered his face as everyone looked down as well. Anger battled sadness, sadness battled helplessness, and helplessness battled anger within him. He spoke, his voice soft. "Can we see her?"

"No, for some reason they're not letting us."

He squeezed out a tear and sat up. His head throbbed and his stomach lunched and he noticed that he felt bandages under his fingers. "What happened to me?"

"We found you in the road after you ran after her killer," Gracia said, looking back up. "You hit your head pretty heard when you fell, at least that's what the doctor said. Your body is bruised all over." He tried to swing his legs out of the hospital bed. "Please, Maes, just get some rest for a while."

He just sat there, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking at the floor. Anger was slowly winning the war. Her killer... he thought menacingly. "You mean Mustang."

Gracia was silent for a moment before she opened her mouth to respond, her face skeptic.

"NO! You heard what I said. Mustang was there, he had the gun... He killed our daughter, Gracia! How can you sit there and defend him?"

"I am defending Roy Mustang, Maes, because I know he did not take Elicia's life. He is your closest friend, and I refuse to believe that he would so something like that. He told you himself that after what he did in Ishbal, the only person he would be ready to kill, was himself."

_But that means_, Hughes said to himself as everyone waited for his reaction. That he is still prepared to kill. _So I'm going to do him a favor, and murder him myself.**  
**_**  
3  
****The was cold and it was rainy on the day of Elicia Hughes's funeral.  
**  
Her coffin was the smallest they had ever seen, pink, and decorated with little flowers. It was not a big gathering, Hughes and Gracia stood right near the grave as the men in gray coats and black sashes lowered the casket deep into the ground. Alex Louis Armstrong stood behind them as did Maria Ross and Denny Bloch. A few of Gracia's close friends and their families all dressed in black with tears in their eyes, behind them.

Hughes watched as dirt was piled over his daughter. As each shovel-full hit the coffin, he felt the sadness press harder and harder upon his shoulders as his heart hardened. His grief: beyond tears. He could only watch as Gracia clung to him, her sobs only slightly muffed by her wet handkerchief. And as the minutes ticked by, the fact became more and more real, no matter how it killed him. His daughter was gone forever.

Then it was done, and Hughes and Gracia stood alone beside her headstone, pink as well, with the name "Elicia Hughes" etched into the stone. They read: "Our Angel" beneath it, and Gracia sobbed harder than ever, all the tears and moans of sadness draining out of her all at once. Hughes knitted his eyebrows against the grief and pain. Lowering a ring of flowers beside it, he whispered, "I will love you. Always."

**4  
****Roy Mustang was on the doorstep of Mae's Hughes's new house. It had only been an hour after the funeral that he managed to miss. Hughes stared at his old friend menacingly, and resisted the urge to kill him right then and there. Roy had a pained, confused look on his face and seemed hesitant to step inside, even after Gracia welcomed him in with a smile. He knew what had happened, and he knew of Hughes's suspicions.****  
**

"Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes," Roy began, standing up straight as Riza Hawkeye walked in behind him. Gracia closed the door and walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. "You have been promoted, sir, to Brigadier General." and before Hughes could even react, Colonel Roy Mustang lifted up his right arm, and saluted his ranking officer.

Hughes just stared. "Why?" he asked. "Why now? Did my daughter have to die for me to get promoted?"

"Sir," Roy said, still saluting, his face brisk, "The Fuhrer has heard of what you discovered about Juliet Douglass and her accomplices, and decided to promote you for your skills and your loss as well."

"Come on, Roy, don't act his way around me, I have an important matter to discuss with you," Hughes growled. He sat down on the edge of his couch and stiffly offered the Colonel a seat. Riza walked over and stood behind him, slinging their coats across her arm. "Why, why weren't you at Elicia's funeral?"

Roy looked down at his hands and sighed sadly. He did not look up as he spoke. "Maes, I know why your acting this way and I am here to clear my name. I was in east headquarters when Elicia was shot, but moments before that I left on a train to Central. Maes, I was worried about you and I was slightly mad. I was being kept in the dark, and ranking below me at the time you had no right to keep that information to me."

"Don't feed me that crap, Roy!" Hughes shouted. "I saw you, you were there.... you.... YOU SHOT MY DAUGHTER!" Hughes stood up and punched Mustang in the face, knocking him down on the floor. He managed a few more screams and punches before Hawkeye had her gun to Hughes's head.

"You may outrank me, and outrank the Colonel, but it is my duty to protect him, and not doing so would mean my job and his life." Riza said, her hand completely still on the rifle, her finger ready on the trigger. "I don't care how close you are to the top; you punch him again and I'll shoot."

Hughes smirked and rose himself up, wiping Roy's blood off of his knuckles and onto his shirt as he sat back on the sofa. "So, Roy? This is how it is. You kill my family and when I react I die as well. Some friend you are."

Roy stood up, his nose crushed, blood flowing down his face and into the collar of his royal blue uniform. "Maes please, I did not kill your daughter."

"Like hell you didn't!" Hughes shouted, fighting tears. "I order you! I order you to tell me everything. All I need is a confession, then I don't care when they do to you after that!"

"What more can I say?" Roy's voice shook and he blinked hard. This took Hughes by surprise, never in his life had he seen Roy Mustang cry, or even begin to cry. All of a sudden he seemed foolish. "What do you want? Evidence? What will you have me do to prove my innocence? For you to believe me? Tell me, dammit!"

It was then that a tear slid down his face.

Hughes buried his face in his hands as his shoulders shook and a sob became audible from beneath his fingers. "Just leave, Roy." he mumbled, his shaking voice muffled.

"Maes..." Roy pleaded, more tears spilling from his black eyes.

Hughes threw his head up and screamed. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"Please, sir," Hawkeye said, resting a hand on Roy's shoulder.

The Colonel looked once more in desperate disbelief before hanging his head and walking out of the house.

Hughes heard an engine rev and a car pull away down the street and he looked down at his hands, still with blood on his fingers. "He can't have done it," he whispered. He felt his wife's arms wrap around him. "But then, who _did _do it?"

* * *

**5  
****The blonde woman and black haired man stood before Elicia Hughes's grave. A new ring of blue forget-me-nots and a red rose had been added to the other flowers. She had her own personal bouquet.  
**  
"What do I do, Lieutenant?" Roy asked in a dry cracking voice.

"I don't think you should do anything different. Just be there to comfort the Brigadier General; let him know that you care. Your persistence is what might change him," said Hawkeye softly.

"But he doesn't want my company, he wants to see my in jail or dead. I'm leaving back for Eastern Headquarters tomorrow, I can't get involved with this."

"Don't make him think you're running away from this," she said, stepping closer to him. "The thing you don't want to do is abandon him, Roy." She stopped, and put her hand over her mouth.

He turned, and noticed his name being spoken. She looked down, said "Sir!" and brought her hand up to salute him. But he reached his hand out and stopped hers. He pulled her closer. "It's alright, Hawkeye," he said softly.

She stared at him, not sure what do to. Then a wave of greif seemed to fall on Roy suddenly as he fell to his knees and began to sob and the rain began to fall. He cried, cried for Elicia, cried for Gracia and most importantly, his tears fell for Hughes. Riza fell with him and lifted up his head, wiping the tears from his eyes. Together they leaned in and kissed. And only on person came to see the 1st Lieutenant and the Colonel, kissing silently in the rain.

**6  
****Sciezka squeaked and covered her eyes. She didn't! She did not just see Mustang and Hawkeye.... She quickly turned around and began to scamper away when the voice of the Colonel stopped her.**

"You," he said. "Sciezka, isn't it?"

She slowly turned around, her face blushing violently in embarrassment. "ME?!" she squealed, pointing a finger at herself. "Oh, sorry! I should be going, I really--"

"Sciezka!" barked Mustang, and she turned around and stood poker stiff to salute him. However, it was her left hand as her right was filled with books. She squeaked and dropped all of the books as she went to correct herself, then screamed as all of her precious books fell onto the wet grass. When she had straightened up, she blinked back tears and stared determinedly at Roy. "Am I correct that you are working under Hughes?"

"Brigadier General Hughes? Yes, yes I am!" she said nervously.

"I need your help then. I want you to report back to me every night on what he has been doing. What books he has you get for him or reproduce for him, who he talks to, where he goes... can you do that for me?"

"You want me to spy? On.... ON THE GENERAL!?" she shrieked almost dropping her books again.

"Yes, It's a direct order. But do it discreetly, and speak nothing of me or the assignment, do you understand?" He said strictly as she nodded slowly, still with a look of shock on her face. "It's for Elicia, he still believes me to be the killer and I think that makes it my duty to find out who really killed her. Also, tonight I would like you to drop off all of the books that he was reading that may have gotten him in this mess. Make notes of all of the pages he looked at... everything."

"Y-yes sir!" she saluted him correctly this time. "I'll do my best! Anything for little E-Elicia!!!"

"Thank you, Sciezka," Roy said. "Also, make a phone call to Major Armstrong, I might need his help on this as well. And Hawkeye, call the boys back in the Eastern HQ: tell them that they need to be down here as soon as possible. Remember, none of us are going back until this crime is solved!"

"Sir!" Riza saluted him, her face slightly pink.

"We need to find out who killed Elicia Hughes," Roy said. Then to himself he silently vowed. _I will, even if it costs me my life._

**7  
****Jean Havoc put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Heymans Breda and Kain Fuery played chess. Vato Falman absentmindedly shuffled, un-shuffled, and re-shuffled stacks of paper he had already read several times. It had been a while since the Colonel and Hawkeye had left urgently for Central, and they were getting anxious. It was very awkward and stressful having other officers rushing into the office, demanding reports when they had none to give.**

"This sucks," Breda said, slumping in his chair. "Fuery, are you ever going to beat me?"

"Don't tell me your tired of losing!" Kain said indignantly. "I would kill to win at this game, I just don't get it!" he moved another pawn, but Breda jumped up and moved his piece. The same thing they had been doing for hours.

"Yeah right, Fuery, you couldn't even kill a fly!" Breda laughed.

Havoc was laying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, letting a black and white dog climb over his chest and lick his face. It was all he could do not to fall asleep.

"I may just be guessing," Kain said with a smile. "But Black Hayate seems to be happy."

Havoc sat up and the dog leaped away from him and jumped into Kain's arms, causing Breda to run to the far side of the room. He sighed deeply, exhaling a puff of gray smoke into the air. It floated up to the ceiling and hung there.

"Gross, Havoc!" Breda said. "The whole room's gunna be smoky soon."

He shrugged and laid back down.

"So, we can't leave unless we're excused or given an order by the Colonel, is that it?" Kain asked, gently stroking the dog in his lap. He leaned down and scratched his ears. "That's highly unfair."

"I know," said Havoc from the ground. "Let's just lock the door and escape out the window."

"We could be seriously punished for that!" Kain exclaimed.

"Eh, nothing's worse than this..." Havoc let the silence build as everyone exchanged glances. It was quiet for quite a long time before:

Breda: "I'll lock the door!"  
Falman: "I'll get the rope!"  
Fuery: "I'll keep the window open!"  
Havoc: "I'll jump out first!!!"

**8  
****The room was dark. A single tall lamp stood in the corner, dully lighting the room and to the normal human eye, two beds, a dresser and the figures of three people could barely be seen. The three people were conversing quietly, talking of sinister plans and sharing dark secrets.**

"Envy, what have you done?" a woman with a smooth voice demanded. "Why did you kill the child instead?"

The tall slender figure sighed and readjusted his position on the window sill. "Come on, I just wanted to have a little fun. I figured him spending his last few weeks suffering would be more exciting. I'm still going to kill him. Let's just wait and see what happens now. If I have to, I'll kill all of them."

"And then I can eat them!" the fat figure exclaimed as he bounced on the bed. "Eat them!"

Lust, one side of her curved body illuminated by the yellow light, the other cast into shadow, folded her arms. "But this has caused such chaos! The outcome may not be the same! What if the Elrics returned? And now Hughes has been promoted a higher rank and he's gained more protection."

Envy laughed. "Don't underestimate me, Lust. Those guards don't stand a chance against me, or against any of us for that matter. Stop worrying so much, I have it all under control. I did chase him and managed to rough him up a bit before the military showed up. No matter what, I will make sure that Maes Hughes dies." the Green-haired homunculus turned to the one on the bed. "Gluttony. I hope your hungry; you'll have plenty of important people to eat very soon."

And then game a growl of longing and malic as it opened its mouth in a sinister wide-toothed grin.

* * *

_I hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for Part Two!!!_


End file.
